The Producers 2: Broadway Beats
by RavenclawGirl777
Summary: Max Bialystock is in his prime. He has a new appearance, a new success and a best friend to rely on. But then, a figure from his past reappears in his life, and things begin to become hectic. Max starts questioning the things in his life, including his friendship with Leo Bloom!
1. Chapter 1

Two usherettes stood outside a gilded golden door waiting for the end of the Broadway show inside. One of them, a pretty young woman with curly brown hair, pulled out a pocket watch to watch the seconds tick by.

"Ready, Sandra?" she asked her blonde companion, who placed her white-gloved hand on the handle of the door. "In five, four, three, two…" Sandra, the blonde usherette, opened the door and the audience rushed out singing their joy and happiness at the top of their lungs. The usherettes joined in, and the crowd parted and cheered as the two producers of the hit Broadway show, Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, exited the doors dressed in their capes and hats and holding their canes.

"Oh, please! You're making me blush!" exclaimed Max Bialystock, shaking hands with many of the audience members. He had thinned out over the past few years since he and his partner, Leo, first produced _Springtime for Hitler_ - which, for the record, was still running on Broadway. He had also grown a pencil-thin moustache that he regularly groomed, and his dark hair was beginning to grey. As Leo passed the crowd, the young women cheered him on and squealed in delight, and Leo rushed to Max's side.

"They're making me nervous, those women!" he exclaimed into Max's ear in a hushed voice.

"Then don't look at them! Just don't bring out that blanket of yours!" Max hissed back, and he grabbed Leo's arm and pulled him towards their black limousine. "Thank you for coming to our show! Don't forget to come again!" He ducked into the limo, Leo following, and their chauffer closed the door behind them. "What a success! Leo, we've done great – as usual!"

"It certainly was a success…" Leo said, pulling his baby blue blanket out of his pocket and pressing it to his cheek.

"Leo, put that thing away! There's no need for it! Our show was a hit!" Max exclaimed, grabbing Leo's wrists and removing his hands from his face. "There's no need for panic anymore!"

"Oh, well… You know how I normally would have celebrated a success before… you know…" said Leo, looking down at his hands that were now in his lap. Max, who still had Leo's wrists in his hands, sighed.

"Bloom, you'll never get over her if you continue thinking about her," he told his business partner.

"But I can't stop! No woman has ever sought after my attention before! Especially not a beautiful Swedish blonde!" Leo exclaimed, his hands – and the blanket – jumping up to his face again.

"Leo! You're only hurting yourself more and more! Is that what you really want?" Max asked him, trying to remove Leo's hands from his face again, but failing.

"No, Max… You're my best friend and I can tell you anything, so I'll tell you this: Ulla was pregnant with my child, and a week after we found out, I caught her sucking on that dancer's face!" Leo exclaimed, having never really told Max what really happened between him and his ex-wife, Ulla. Ulla, only a month before, had been caught kissing one of the dancers for their newest musical, _Sleepy in Chicago_, while nearly three months pregnant with Leo's child. They had legally divorced two weeks ago, and now, rumor had it, she was engaged once again. Max, stunned into silence, removed his hands from Leo's wrists and let him cuddle with his blue blanket.

"I… I didn't know that that was the cause…" Max told him, thinking that they had divorced over a huge disagreement. He certainly had no idea that Ulla was cheating on him while pregnant with his child! Leo nodded, the sad and depressed look showing clearly in his sky blue eyes. "Well, how about you and I celebrate, then? With a drink and a fine dinner!"

"That sounds wonderful, Max, but I think I'm going to go home and rest…" Leo told him. Max nodded, and neither of them spoke for the rest of the ride. The limo pulled to a stop in front of the building where Max and Leo's office – the place where they first met – resided, and the two men exited the limo. "Well, I'd best be headed home. I'll see you tomorrow, Max."

"Goodnight, Leo," Max said after him, watching his best friend's back go down the road and disappear around a corner. He sighed and placed his hat on his head. "Poor kid… He didn't deserve such a slut like Ulla whatever-the-hell-her-impossible-name-was." Without another word, Max went up to his office.

…

Leo didn't come the next day, and Max didn't want to bother him either. He knew that Leo was upset about Ulla, and he didn't want to be a nuisance him. However, he wanted to break the Swedish whore's neck for hurting his best friend like that. When he first met Leo, he found him annoying and a nuisance, until Leo proposed the theory that he could make more money with a Broadway flop than a hit. He was suddenly interested in Leo, and he certainly couldn't carry out that theory with Leo having proposed it, so he had to somehow convince Leo to join him in the scheme. Over time, Max had become really fond of the nervous accountant, then furious at his betrayal when he went to Rio with Ulla, and then realized that he had come to love Leo as a best friend and brother moments before they were sentenced to five years at Sing-Sing. He still felt that way, three years later, and would do anything to protect his nervous friend.

Max was at his glory now, being richer and more successful than he ever had been before. He was healthier now, having gone down four pants sizes and appearing more handsome than he was even in his younger years. A few of the little old ladies – Hold Me-Lick Me, Suck Me-Fuck Me and Kiss Me-Whip Me – have died of old age and several others were now living in retirement homes, though Max truly didn't mind. He now had younger women – women younger than him – that were craving his attention and desiring their spot in his bed. However, ever since Max and Leo had produced _Prisoners of Love_, he hadn't been taking women, old and young, into his bed. He'd been more interested in making money the legal way than manipulating women in New York, though of course, that didn't keep Max from taking them into his office and making out with them on his couch. Max credited Leo for his physical success, as it was Leo who forced him to work out and eat healthier. Max had also been told that his pencil-thin moustache and greying hair made him appear more handsome by the younger women who had been occupying his couch.

Leo came over the following week on a Monday to check up on the books, when he found Max staring at a picture with a reminiscent look in his chocolate brown eyes. He was smiling at the picture, and in his eyes was a look of, Leo assumed, love.

"M-Max?" Leo asked cautiously, knowing that Max hated being caught in a sensitive action.

"Hm?" Max looked up at him, then quickly opened a drawer in his desk and threw the picture inside. "Leo!" He slammed the drawer shut and stood, his hands becoming busy with his pockets. "How are you feeling?"

"B-Better, thanks… That week of… of peace really… h-helped…" Leo said, gulping. He was slightly afraid that Max would get upset at him for catching him at a weak moment, but Max did no such thing. Instead, Max came around the desk and pulled his best friend into a tight hug.

"I'm glad that Swedish whore no longer occupies your mind, kid!" he exclaimed. Leo was stiff, unsure of what to do. Max never hugged him like this! But eventually, Leo gave in and returned his friend's hug. Max pulled out of it and ruffled his mousy brown hair. "So what brings you over here?"

"I… I've been wanting to check the books…" Leo told him, his hand in his pocket and squeezing his blue blanket comfortingly.

"Well, check away!" Max said, gesturing to the desk. Leo nodded and made his way to the desk, sitting down and pulling the chair closer to the desk. After opening the book, Leo looked up and jumped, as Max was hovering above him in a proximity that was too close for comfort.

"Max! You're making me nervous!" Leo exclaimed, pulling his blue blanket out of his pocket and pressing it to his cheek.

"Oh, sorry," Max said, stepping back. Leo calmed his breathing, and looked up at Max again. He, too, had noticed how much more handsome Max looked these days with a thinner body, a thin moustache and greying hair. He liked Max's new appearance – it was much better than when he was as fat as a walrus. Leo shook the thoughts from his mind. He shouldn't be having these kinds of thoughts about his best friend and almost-brother! "Leo?"

"Huh?" Leo asked.

"Did you hear what I said?" Max asked him. Clearly, he had been talking when Leo was thinking about how attractive Max looked these days.

"Oh… Sorry… you know… Ulla…" Leo said, looking down and making up an excuse.

"I figured, kid," Max said, placing a hand on Leo's shoulder. "She's gone now, and she isn't worth your heartache. Just remember that. Now, as I was saying… For our next show, I think we should look into some of the older Broadway actors and actresses. You know, like Bette Williams, Laura Henn, Ingrid Hans…"

"Evelyn Saunders?" Leo suggested.

"DON'T YOU SAY HER NAME!" Max shouted, frightening Leo to an extreme. He let out a cry and jumped up, running to the other side of the room with his blue blanket glued to his face. "I… I'm sorry, Leo! It's just that, well… Evelyn Saunders and I don't have a very good… past…" Max approached him, Leo tensing up as he felt Max's hand on his shoulder.

"J-j-just… t-t-tell me that th-th-then… n-n-next time I… I m-make a s-s-suggestion…" Leo stuttered nervously, his eyes closed tightly.

"I will," said Max, pulling Leo into another tight hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I know you didn't know about Evie Saunders and I."

"W-w-well… Y-you could t-t-tell me…" Leo stuttered, his eyes peering out over Max's shoulder. Max pulled back, his hands on Leo's shoulders.

"I'd rather not… It's not something you'd be interested in knowing," Max told him, and he patted Leo's shoulder and went to the sofa, sitting down with a sigh. He patted the cushion next to him, and Leo cautiously approached and sat down next to him, still shaking with terror and holding the blue blanket right beneath his chin. Max placed an arm around his shoulders and his other hand on Leo's arm. "Let me tell you this: Evelyn Saunders and I knew each other when I was a young man, probably not much younger than you. She had auditioned for one of my first musicals back in 1938, and boy, was she gorgeous. When I first laid eyes on her, I thought she was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

"Why, Max… You were in love with her!" Leo exclaimed, having calmed down a lot now that Max, for the first time, was opening up to him. Max sighed and nodded.

"Yes, Leo… I was in love with her. And that was why she got the part. She was beautiful, she could really dance and sing like a professional and I was in love with her. And it turned out that she loved me back, or so I thought," he told Leo.

"D-did she cheat on you, too?" Leo asked him innocently, and Max shook his head.

"No, Leo… It was me that did the cheating," Max told him. "We were engaged by 1944, and I stupidly had gotten myself drunk only a week before our wedding, found a younger woman and, well… Evie caught that woman and I in our bed. She left in a fury, and a week later, I had received a letter, on the day that we were to be married, that our engagement was called off. I was devastated, and for a year or so after that, I didn't do any new productions. I started up again in probably 1948 or 1949, and by that point, I had lost my touch as the king of Broadway. I was producing flop after flop after flop, and my life had literally gone down the toilet. And in 1959, you show up in my office, and suddenly, my touch came back."

"Oh… Max, I… I never thought you to be in love with anyone," Leo told him. Max sighed.

"I was a young man once, too, kid. I was forced to make choices – sometimes the wrong choices – and I made my mistakes. I had my successes, too. In 1952, I had produced an all-right play. It wasn't the best, but it wasn't a flop, either. Though it doesn't seem like it, I was once a young man, too… A stupid one, but I was once a young man, too…" he told him, looking away from Leo, removing his hands from his shoulders and arm and looking at the ground with a distant look. "I'm sorry I yelled at you… That was completely unnecessary and uncalled for."

"Don't worry about that, Max…" Leo told him. "That's not my concern right now."

"Don't be concerned about it, Leo. That happened years ago! For all I know, Evelyn Saunders could be married by now with children in Kentucky!" Max exclaimed, standing. "Now, come on, why don't we go and celebrate our latest success with a drink?" Max held out his hand to Leo, who took it and stood with a smile.

"It sounds like a good idea to me!" he said, and the two men grabbed their hats and coats and left the office.


	2. Chapter 2

_It was September of 1944. Max was reading a newspaper article about a young man named Fred Moore who returned home the day before after being captured by the Nazis for nearly a year. _A true hero, _Max thought, and he laughed aloud. That could have been him, had he been drafted. But he hadn't, so Max hadn't gone overseas. He looked up from the paper as the door to his office opened and in walked a beautiful woman with brown hair put up in the classic victory rolls of the 1940's. It was Evelyn Saunders, the star of his latest Broadway smash, _Anything Comes, _and the love of his life. He and Evelyn were due to marry next week, and Max couldn't wait for her to become Evelyn Bialystock._

"_Good morning, my gorgeous fiancée," Max said, folding up the paper and standing as she approached his desk._

"_Why, good morning, my darling Max," Evelyn said to him, placing a kiss on his lips._

"_What brings you here to my office at this hour? Shouldn't you be getting ready for tonight's show?" Max asked her, taking her hands in his._

"_I should be, yes, but I wanted to see you first. I missed you, Max, darling…" Evelyn told him, taking one of her hands and tracing the line of his jaw. Max shivered with delight, and he lifted her up and sat her on his desk._

"_And I've missed you, Evie," he said to her, and he kissed her. On his face were the beginnings of a moustache that he had been wanting to grow, and Evelyn liked the idea. She rather enjoyed the tickling of his moustache on her face. They were kissing with more passion now, and just as Max had begun to undo his pants, a knock was heard at the door. He groaned, redid his pants and went to answer the door. Standing outside of it was a woman with curly mousy brown hair and a young boy who was probably about seven or eight that looked very much like her._

"_Excuse me, Mr. Bialystock!" the woman exclaimed, knowing she disturbed him from something important, based on the expression on his face. "My son and I were passing by this building and he got so excited… He's such a huge fan of your plays, sir, and he wanted to say hello!" Max's irritated expression softened, and he looked down at the boy with a smile. He knelt down next to him and held out his hand._

"_Why, hello, little boy! And what, might I ask, is your name?" he asked him. The little boy nervously took his hand and shook it, a blue blanket in his other hand._

"_M-my name is L-Leopald Bloom, sir…" said the boy nervously._

"_Oh, don't be shy, Leopald! Mr. Bialystock is a friendly man!" his mother exclaimed, though the little boy remained hidden behind his blue blanket._

"_Oh, that's all right!" Max exclaimed, his friendliest smile still shining in the boy's direction._

"_Who is it at the door, Max, darling?" came Evelyn's voice from the door, and Max looked up at his curious fiancée._

"_This wonderful boy named Leopald Bloom and his mother," Max replied, standing. Evelyn knelt down to the boy and smiled at him as well._

"_Well, hello, Mr. Bloom!" she said. The little boy shook her hand as well, and then hid behind his mother's legs._

"_Oh, I'm so sorry… He gets so nervous sometimes! Thank you so much for letting him meet you!" exclaimed the boy's mother, picking up her nervous son and holding him on her hip. The boy was rather small for his age._

"_Oh, it's my pleasure!" Max exclaimed, and the woman smiled and said her thanks once more before leaving._

"_What a sweet little boy," Evelyn said, walking back into the office as Max closed the door. She turned, and Max was right in front of her in a second with his hands on her waist._

"_Now, I believe we were in the middle of something?" Max asked her, and Evelyn giggled._

"_I believe we were…" she told him, and she leaned into Max's face and kissed him. They then collapsed on the couch…_

…

_That night, _Anything Comes _had had the best night in its history. Max and the male members of the cast were celebrating with drinks at a bar nearby, and the women were having their own little party elsewhere._

"_To Max Bialystock!" exclaimed one of the cast members, raising his glass. Everyone else mimicked him, and they drank from their glasses. Max was enjoying a conversation with some of the cast members, when someone tapped on his shoulder._

"_Mr. Bialystock? May I speak to you for a moment?" asked a beautiful young woman with glossy dark hair._

"_S-sure…" said Max, slurring his words slightly, as he was now very drunk. He stood and wobbled after the woman who had called his attention. They were now standing outside of the bar, and the woman approached him._

"_Your show was wonderful tonight, Mr. Bialystock," the woman told him. She leaned into his ear and spoke in a seductive tone. "Wonderful enough for me to chase your beautiful ass…"_

"_I l-like da way you… you talk, Miss…" Max slurred, grabbing onto a pole for balance._

"_Why don't we go back to your place then? Just you and I…" said the woman, and she went to call a cab. A cab came up, and the woman led Max into it. Once the cab got to the building where Max's office was, the woman got out and pulled Max out with it._

"_You go too fast, driver! You… you should be fired…" Max said to the driver, who drove away with amusement._

"_Come, Maxie…" the woman said to him, and she led him up to his office._

…

_About an hour later, Evelyn, exhausted, had finally gotten back to the office. She climbed the stairs, expecting Max to be waiting for her at his desk, and opened the door. She turned on the light and let out a huge gasp. Max – her Max – was making out with some woman, who was clearly more beautiful than she, on the couch!_

"_Max Bialystock!" Evelyn exclaimed, causing the two on the couch to separate. Max turned and looked at her, and even though he was drunk, he knew that he had done a horrible thing._

"_Evelyn… Evie, dis ain't what it look like…" Max slurred, standing and nearly falling over._

"_Than what is it, Max? Because to me, it looks like you're having sex with another woman on the couch!" Evelyn exclaimed._

"_No, Evie! Dis is a misunderstanding…" Max told her, standing and swaying._

"_A misunderstanding… I should have known to watch my ass with you, Max. Now, I'll let you finish with that whore… Goodbye, Max," Evelyn said, and she left the office in a rush._

"_Evie! Evie!"_

…

"EVIE!" Max cried, sitting up abruptly and gasping for breath.

"Max?" came Leo's voice from the bathroom, and he opened the door and rushed to Max's side. "Max, are you all right?"

"I… I'm fine… Just… A nightmare, that's all…" Max told Leo, not wanting to tell him the flashback that he had had.

"Oh… All right, then," said Leo, knowing very well that Max was lying. "Well… I hope you enjoyed your nap, then." Max looked at him with an are-you-kidding-me look.

"Yes… I enjoyed my nap. That's why I was screaming and you came running to my side," Max told him sarcastically, and Leo looked down.

"Right… sorry…" Leo said to him.

"I don't mean to be grouchy, Leo. I've been thinking a lot lately…" Max told him, looking away.

"Oh, no! No, it's perfectly reasonable for you to be… grouchy…" Leo told him, placing his hands on Max's shoulders. The couch was a lot more comfortable for Max now that he was thinner and could fully fit on it when lying down, and it also gave Leo room to sit on the couch and comfort him. "Just do what you told me: don't think about her. The memory of her will only hurt you."

"Thank you, Leo, for using what I said against me," Max told him in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, no! No, no! Not against you! I'm just telling you to use the words that you used to help me to help yourself!" Leo exclaimed, taking out his blue blanket and wiping some of the sweat off of Max's forehead. "Do you need anything while I'm here?"

"An aspirin and a glass of water would be nice…" Max replied, and Leo got right to it. Within seconds, or so it seemed to Max, Leo had the pill and a glass of water. Max took the pill, popped it into his mouth and drank the glass of water in one gulp. "Thanks." Max liked having Leo there to take care of him. When Max took care of Leo, he knew that Leo liked it, and Max hoped that Leo knew that he liked Leo taking care of him as well.

"I hope you're not feeling ill," Leo told him, using his blanket to wipe even more sweat from Max's face.

"No… No, I'm fine," Max told Leo. "It was just a nightmare. Nothing more."

"Well, do you wanna talk about it?"

"No!" Max replied quickly, causing Leo to shrink back. He sighed. "Im sorry, Leo… I think I'm just gonna shower and go out for a bit."

"All right," said Leo, standing. "If… If you need me, just let me know, okay?" Max gave no response as he walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Leo sighed and went to the desk, sitting down. He heard the shower start, and then he looked down at the drawer in Max's desk. _This was the drawer that he threw that picture in, _Leo thought, and, knowing that Max wouldn't hear a thing over the roar of the shower, opened the drawer. He reached in and pulled out a picture of a beautiful woman with dark hair in a black and white photo. On the photo were the words, 'To my dearest Max, I love you with all of my being. Love, Evelyn Saunders'. Leo looked at the picture, and suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind.

"_Well, hello, Mr. Bloom!"_

He now remembered that fateful day, the day that his mother was struck by a car when crossing the street, when he had met Evelyn Saunders and Max for the first time. He replaced the picture exactly where he had found it, trying not to remember that day, and then picked up a closed envelope. He opened the envelope, and inside was a letter scratched in the same handwriting as the words on the picture that said:

_My dearest Max,_

_I know that my reaction was sudden and probably unfair. You were as drunk as a sailor and probably thought that that woman was me. But if I am wrong, well… I'm sorry to say that I don't think we can keep up our relationship. I had been thinking about it for a long time, now. With me as a Broadway star and you as a Broadway producer, things are going to get hard. I don't want our children, if we were to have any, to be growing up with two incredibly famous parents for reasons that I know you'd understand. I hope you understand what I am saying, Max. I still love you, and I probably always will, but for the sake of both ourselves and our futures, I believe that we should call off our engagement. Don't come after me, Max, and don't come looking for me, either. Just know that I love you, and that you are always in my heart._

_With love,_

_Your Evelyn A. Saunders_

What Leo had just read was the letter that Max had told him about the day before. It was the letter that had called off his and Evelyn's engagement. He heard the water in the bathroom stop, and he quickly replaced the letter in the envelope, resealed it and put it back where he found it. Just as he had closed the drawer and opened one of the books, the bathroom door opened and Max exited wearing his red robe and his dark hair dripping wet. Leo said nothing as Max silently went into the tiny bedroom that was there to change, and looked down at the books. He had been disloyal to Max, snooping through his stuff, but he now knew Max's true feelings about Evelyn Saunders. If she did still love him, perhaps she was waiting for him? Not long after Evelyn had left Max, she had fallen out of Broadway shows, very much like how Max had fallen out of producing hits. And so, Leo decided that he would help out his best friend in finding the love of his life. But how he was going to go about it was unbeknownst to him. He just hoped against hope that Max wouldn't find out about his plan, or that Max wouldn't be upset if he did find out.


	3. Chapter 3

It certainly didn't take Leo long to find Evelyn Saunders, either. She was exactly where Max had predicted she would be: married in Kentucky with kids. However, Evelyn was widowed and she had three boys, the eldest being seventeen and the youngest being nine. And her widowhood was what made her so easy to find, because she went back to her maiden name of Saunders. No, Evelyn had not learned that Leo Bloom was Max Bialystock's business partner, so Leo had the advantage. He brought her to the office, having blocked the sign on the door, and closed the door behind them. The office looked very, _very_ familiar, yet, it had changed a lot in the past eighteen years. It had changed so much that Evelyn Saunders didn't recognize it from the night she had left Max Bialystock. The last time she had seen Max, she was in New York with her husband, and she happened to see him strolling by in the park. He had gotten a lot fatter since 1944, he had shaved off his moustache and he was a failure at producing Broadway shows. She was in for quite the surprise when Max Bialystock, much thinner now and a pencil-thin moustache on his upper lip, walked into the office about ten minutes after Leo had said he was going to get her a drink from downstairs.

"Hey, Leo, I have wonderful news!" Max exclaimed, taking off his coat and hat, placing them on the nightstand and turning around. The person he saw on his couch was not Leo Bloom, but instead, was Evelyn Saunders. Evelyn had aged quite as much as Max did in the past eighteen years. Her hair was greying at the roots and she had a few lines on her forehead and around her eyes. But to Max, she had never looked more beautiful. Evelyn stood and cautiously took a step back. "Evie… Evelyn, what are you doing here?" Max approached her rather quickly, and Evelyn backed away and stopped behind the desk.

"No, Max… No…" she told him, her hands held out in front of her. Max looked down at her hands, which had also aged since he had last seen them, and then back up at her face. She was in her forties now, most likely, as she was only a few years younger than Max when they were in love.

"No? How dare you say no to me and stand here in my office?" Max demanded from her, trying to hide the love that he still felt for her.

"First of all, I had no idea that this was your office. It's changed since the last time I saw it… And second, a man by the name of Leo Bloom brought me here," Evelyn told him, and Max's face changed expressions. He went to the couch and sat down, staring at the coffee table, and then stood up and made for the door.

"BLOOM!" he shouted in anger, and Evelyn ran to him and grabbed his arm.

"Don't you dare harm that man! He's too nervous!" she shouted at him.

"I've known the man for three years! Do you think I don't know this?" Max demanded, pulling his arm from her grip and grabbing her shoulders. "He stooped through my drawers! He invaded my privacy! That's the only way he could have gotten the idea to bring you here!" Evelyn stepped from his grip.

"Well, that certainly doesn't mean that you have to hunt him down and hurt him! He was trying to help you, I'm sure. I guess that means he read that last letter that I sent you…" she said, turning and walking towards the couch. It was the same couch that she had caught Max and that woman on eighteen years ago, and it was also the same couch where she and Max had done some naughty things as well. How she didn't notice that before escaped her mind.

"Well, maybe he should have left things alone!" Max exclaimed, standing next to her now.

"He can now… I'll just go, then," Evelyn told him, moving past him and towards the door.

"Evie, wait!" Max called, and she stopped, her hand on the door knob. Max walked towards her and grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. "You look beautiful, still…"

"Don't lie to me, Max. I've aged. I know I'm not the beautiful young woman that I once was," Evelyn told him. In her eyes, Max looked more handsome than he did eighteen years ago. He looked nothing like the fat walrus that he was that one time she had seen him in New York.

"And? I've aged about as much as you have! And I still think I'm fairly handsome!" Max exclaimed.

"Well, that statement is true, but yours is not. You're just saying that to try and win me back," Evelyn told him.

"No… No, I'm not. I'm saying that because it's true," Max told her, and he slid an arm across her shoulders and led her to the couch. "I've seen beautiful women, but none of them can possess the beauty that you hold in your face…" Evelyn looked at him for a moment, clearly seeing the love that he still held for her in his eyes. And then, to Max's surprise, she began to sing a song in the same tune that Leo had sung to Ulla three years ago, only to different words. Of course, Max wouldn't have known this because he wasn't there for it.

"_All these years, I've been hiding from your crudeness…"_ she began. _"While at the same time, desiring your rudeness…"_

"_I must be thinking that I'm only dreaming…"_ Max sang back, to his surprise. _"I look at you, and beg to know the meaning."_ Evelyn pulled out of his arms and walked towards the desk.

"_So, knowing this, I severed all connections,"_ she sang, and then turned to face him, _"leading you and I in this direction."_

"_It seemed to fail, and now we're at the same pace,"_ Max sang back, and he approached her. _"And then I stumbled upon that face…" _He now stood in front of Evelyn. _"That face, that face, that beautiful face! I must be going mad…" _Evelyn sidestepped away from him.

"_That face, that face, that dangerous face! The face of a crazy cad!"_ she sang to him.

"Oh, now that isn't friendly," Max said to her. _"That voice, those eyes; They'll lead to my demise!"_ He took Evelyn's hand in his, and she looked away. _"And it's worth it for that face!"_ Evelyn pulled her hand from his and then backed away, using her finger to call him over.

"_Those cheeks, that chin will surely do me in! I must be wise in choice,"_ she sang as Max approached her. He took her hand in his, took her waist in his other hand and they ballroom-style danced across the office floor.

"_That face, that face, that marvellous face! My mind replays your voice…"_ Max sang to her, and he let go of her waist and swung her out_. "If I don't duck, I'm out of luck if she's within a mile!"_ He went to swing her back into his arms but she let go of his hand and sat on his desk. _"But I don't care. It's what she wears that matches with her smile…" _Evelyn was now smiling with a slightly seductive grin on her face.

"_That face, that face, that fabulous face! It's clear I must beware…"_ she sang as Max approached her, and just as he jumped at her with his lips puckered to kiss her, she leapt off of the desk and now stood on the other side of it_. "But I can't, I care. I'll go insane… Your face just haunts my mind."_ Now standing at opposite sides of the table, they both leaned on their hands, which were on the desk, and were face-to-face with each other.

"_I'm certain of my decision now. It may just be my end. And it's worth it for that face,"_ they sang together. Max took one of Evelyn's hands and the two of them were dancing once again across the office floor together. Evelyn let go and Max made another quick move to kiss her, but failed as she moved again. Eventually, Max got her back into the ballroom-style dancing, and he swung her out again.

"_I'm certain if I fall in love, I'll lose myself again. But I don't care…"_ he sang as spun her back into his arms. She was now pressed up against his chest, her eyes cautiously looking up into his.

"_That face…"_ she sang, a lot slower now than she had before. _"That face… That wonderful face… It keeps me on my feet…"_ Max sang back to her in an equally slow tone.

"_That face… That face… That beautiful face… It haunts my dreams at night…"_ he sang to her.

"_I'm certain if I fall in love, I'm lost without a trace…"_ Evelyn sang to him as Max's thumb gently caressed her cheek.

"_But it's worth it… For that face…"_ they sang together for the final time, and Max slowly leaned into Evelyn's face and gently pressed his lips to hers.

"Max! Max!" Leo exclaimed, bursting into the room and startling the two. They jumped apart, Evelyn shocked at how low she had let her guard down. "Oh… er…"

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT OF HERE! GO!" Max shouted, chasing Leo out of the room and stopping right at the door that Leo had slammed shut. He took a second to calm himself and then looked back at Evelyn.

"Max, I… I have to go…" she said, and she made for the door that Max was now standing away from.

"What? But… But Evie! Don't let him ruin the moment!" Max exclaimed, having thought that he had had Evelyn Saunders back in his arms.

"No, he's not… Max, I have to go. Please," Evelyn said, pulling her hands from Max's and making for the door.

"Evie… You're not going to let eighteen years fall between now and the next time I see you, are you?" Max asked her, and Evelyn sighed.

"Max, listen. I'm married. Well, I was married. I'm widowed now, with three children. One of them is seventeen and-"

"Seventeen? You married that man so soon after you left me?" Max asked her with a look of heartbreak and betrayal in his eyes. Evelyn sighed, not wanting to have to tell him so soon after they were reunited.

"The seventeen-year-old is yours," Evelyn told him with a harsh tone, and she opened the door and stormed out of the room. Max stood there, not even bothering to follow her. He had a child, and he had no idea that that child even existed until now. How could he push Evelyn to say that? Things were better when he had no idea that he even had a child! Well, one can argue that Leo could be considered a child, since Max had to take care of him a lot… But an actual child! An actual biological child! There was someone out there that was a part of him, and yet, he had no idea that the child even existed… Max couldn't even call it a 'child' anymore because the 'child' was a seventeen-year-old young man or woman. Their eighteenth birthday was soon to come, and that 'child' would be an adult.

Suddenly, Max remembered that he had probably scared Leo shitless, and then he raced out of the office hoping to find him.

…

Max had a hard time finding Leo, as he wasn't in any of the usual places that he'd been at before when Max chased him out of the office, but then he remembered the panicking tone that Leo's voice had when he came bursting in, and raced the apartment complex where Leo's apartment was. He ran up the stairs and to the apartment, not sure if he should use the key given to him for emergencies only or knock on the door. Inside, he heard the sound of sobbing, and then Max's mind was made up for him. He fished out the key to Leo's apartment and stuck it in the lock, unlocking the door and opening it to find Leo in a heap on the floor.

"Leo!" he exclaimed, rushing to his best friend's side. Leo was curled up in the fetal position on the ground with his blue blanket over his face. "Leo, are you all right? Leo!" Max started gently shaking Leo's shoulders, but Leo wasn't moving. He was still sobbing uncontrollably beneath that stupid blue blanket. So Max had no choice but to take the blanket, throw it across the room and grab his best friend before he could dive after it.

"MY BLANKET! MY BLUE BLANKET! GIMME MY BLANKET!" Leo cried, trying to pull himself from Max's grip, but now that Max was thinner, he had more room to hold onto Leo tighter, and he wrestled him until Leo was pinned down on the ground trying to kick Max wherever he could reach.

"Leo! Leo! Calm down!" Max exclaimed, his hands pressing hard on Leo's shoulders.

"GIMME MY BLANKET!" Leo cried.

"All right! All right!" Max exclaimed, and he jumped up, grabbed the blanket in an instant and threw it to Leo, who calmed down a lot when his blanket was in his hands. Another advantage for Max: his new size enabled him to move a lot quicker than he used to be able to. Max sat down next to Leo, who was now leaning against the couch shaking and pressing his blanket to his face, and just kind of stared at the wall. It was a hassle, keeping Leo calm when he was hysteric! After a while, Max felt Leo lean his head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around Leo's shoulders tightly. "What happened, Leo? What made you so upset?"

"Th-th-they're… they're… they're evicting me!" Leo exclaimed, throwing himself onto Max's lap and burying his face in his shoulder.

"Okay… Okay, Leo, you're squishing me…" Max told him, trying to push Leo off of him, but Leo wasn't budging. A disadvantage for Max: his new size made it easier for people to squish him. Now that he was smaller, Leo could sit on him and squish him like a bug. After a while, Max gave up on trying to push Leo off of him and eventually just held him there like a frightened child.

"I-I-I have n-n-nowhere t-to go, M-Max…" Leo murmured into Max's shoulder.

"Nonsense, Leo! You have a place to stay!" Max exclaimed cheerfully. Leo picked up his head, his cheeks stained with tears.

"I-I-I do?" he asked, curiosity now seeping into his eyes.

"Why, of course you do! I'm not just your best friend for nothing! I'm able to provide for you and give you a place to live! Now, how about it?" Max asked him. And Leo rolled off of Max's lap and onto the floor again. Max was honestly upset about that move, as he had liked holding Leo on his lap for some odd reason. Not that he was gay or anything… He liked women! He was in love with Evelyn Saunders! He had a child with her, for God's sake!

"Gee, I… I-I don't know…" Leo said. "I-I wouldn't want to… want to mooch off of you, Max!" Leo exclaimed.

"Mooch off of me? Leo, you're not mooching off of me! I'm offering my home to you! You can't mooch off of me if I'm offering my home to you! Come on, Leo, what do you say?" Max asked him.

"Well, er…" Leo replied. He had no where else to go, so why not live with his best friend? They could be roommates! They were already business partners, and living with each other made it easier for them to work on their shows. "All right, I'll… I'll do it."

"Great!" Max exclaimed, standing, grabbing Leo's hands and pulling him to stand as well. "I'll help you move in right away! What do you need moved?"

"Nothing right now, Max… I don't even want to think about the eviction right now…" Leo said.

"That's all right," Max told him. "Say, why don't we go for a walk then? Just the two of us!"

"A-all right…" Leo said, and Max threw an arm around Leo's shoulders and led him out of the apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

Leo and Max walked through the park with much cheerfulness, as Max was trying to keep Leo's mind off of the eviction and keep his own mind off of Evelyn Saunders. It was a beautiful sunny day and many people were out for a stroll on the warm June day, though Max, Leo and other business men certainly weren't happy. Their suit jackets and hats were causing them to break out in a sweat! In fact, Max was sweating so much that he was sure he was sweating away another pants size!

"My God, is it hot today!" Max exclaimed to Leo as they walked at a fast pace down the path. Leo was currently wiping his forehead with his blue blanket, agreeing with Max silently to himself about the heat. "You know, sometimes, I hate the summer! It's too hot for people like you and me! Gimme that thing for a second!" Max snatched the blanket from Leo's hands and wiped his own face with it before giving it back. Leo looked at it with a slightly disgusted look before dabbing at his brow again. "Come on, Leo, say something! It's a beautiful day!"

"B-but you were just complaining about the heat!" Leo reminded him.

"Never mind about the heat! Why don't we start a new topic? How's your father doing?" asked Max, his arm around Leo's shoulder despite the fact that Leo was sweating through his shirt and jacket and Max was sweating through his sleeve.

"He's in the hospital…" said Leo.

"Nevermind then! How's, er… How about we stop talking about ourselves and this weather! Why don't you come up with a topic?" asked Max.

"Er… how is your family?" asked Leo. Max's mother, Rebecca Bialystock, was a short, skinny old woman who continuously wanted her son to visit her. Usually, she asked if Max had found himself a girlfriend yet, and usually, Max responded with the fact that he was still heartbroken over Evelyn leaving him. His father, William Bialystick, really didn't care much if Max had a girlfriend or not.

"Great! My mother's bothering me once again about visiting her and my father!" Max told him.

"And your sister?" asked Leo. Max's younger sister, Laura Bialystock, was a beautiful woman of forty years with the same dark hair that Max had and the same chocolate brown eyes.

"Laura? She's great! Still unmarried, but great! I heard she's got herself a friend to live with," Max replied.

"That's good… What about your uncle?" asked Leo.

"Uncle Max? You mean the man whom I'm named after?" asked Max. "He's great! Fantastic, even! He's probably doing almost as good as I am in the Bialystock family!"

"That's good…" said Leo.

"Aw, come on, Leo, stop being so nervous! Why don't you cheer up and have a good time for once? You're living your dreams now! You're a Broadway producer! Everyone who knows your name loves you!" Max exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Not all of my dreams came true…" said Leo, looking at Max. Max lowered his arms.

"I understand, kid. But hey, it'll get better! I promise! You're not even forty yet! You still have a few years! Unlike me, of course! I'm in my fifties now and way out of my prime!" Max told him.

"You aren't out of your prime," Leo told him. "In fact, I'd say you're in your prime now! You've heard all the reviews in those magazines and what all the people in New York are saying… You're more handsome now than you were ever before!"

"Thanks, Leo. I know that I'm the most handsome devil in New York. But like I was saying… You're now in your prime as well! There are women everywhere who want to claim their spot in your bed!" Max told him as a couple of young blonde women were walking their way. "Watch this… Good afternoon, ladies! Mr. Bloom here would like to say something to you!" The two young women stopped and giggled excitedly behind their hands, looking at each other and then at the men standing before them.

"Uh… uh…" said Leo, tensing up as Max pushed him forward. "…hi." The girls giggled and looked at Max.

"_God dag, stilig,"_ said the two young women to Max. Max gaped at them and his arms fell to his sides. Leo's eyes went as wide as saucers. Of course, they were Swedish.

"Ha ha… ha… Well, Leo and I have to go. Don't forget to come and see _Sleepy in Chicago_!" Max said to them, throwing an arm around Leo's shoulders and dragging him away. "Are you all right, little buddy?"

"I'm fine," said Leo honestly.

"Leo, I'm amazed at your strength right now," Max told him, turning and placing his hands on Leo's shoulders. "I know who those women remind you of, and you're staying strong. I'm highly impressed, and I'm very proud of you. I'm also glad that you didn't have a nervous breakdown."

"Max, I'm telling the truth! I'm fine!" Leo told him, and Max pulled him into a tight hug, patting his back gently.

"It's all right, Leo. You don't have to keep up the act when it's just me. I know what you're feeling and I know how hard this is for you," he told Leo.

"Max! Max, I'm not acting! I'm perfectly fine! I don't love Ulla anymore! In fact, I don't think I ever did!" said Leo, trying to get out of Max's grip. Max obviously didn't understand the fact that Leo was telling the truth about him not really caring that those women were Swedish and reminded him of Ulla.

"You need a drink more than anything!" Max exclaimed, pulling back and wrapping an arm around Leo's shoulders. "Come on, buddy, it'll make you feel better!"

"Max! Please, I'm fine! I don't even like Ulla! I have feelings for someone else!" Leo exclaimed, pulling from Max's grip and stepping away from him.

"Leo, come on! Don't go into denial, please! It already hurts me that you're hurting! Denying it will make it even worse!" Max told him, pulling him back into his grip and leading him away again.

"Max, stop! Just stop!" Leo shouted, pulling out of Max's grip once again and holding his hands out to prevent Max from coming any closer.

"Leo, what's gotten into you?" Max asked, incredibly taken aback. Leo usually never took control like this!

"What's gotten into me? I'll tell you what's gotten into me! You've gotten into me, in more ways than one!" Leo snapped. "Now, just leave me alone and don't follow me!" He then stormed away, amazed at his bravery at that moment in time. Of course, once he was out of Max's visible range, Leo collapsed underneath a shade tree, pulled out his blue blanket and broke out in sobs. His best friend was trying to help him, and he yelled at him for it. Max didn't yell at him when Leo tried to help him get back with Evelyn Saunders! Leo suddenly wondered how that meeting went… Oh, who cared? Leo had just yelled at his only friend and pushed him away! What could he do now?

Max sighed, shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away with his head hanging when Leo had disappeared around a curve. He should have followed his friend anyway, whether Leo liked it or not, but he didn't. Instead, he just wandered until he ran into someone, and he brought his brown eyes up to meet the emerald green eyes of Evelyn Saunders.

"Evie!" Max exclaimed. "Are you all right? I didn't see you!"

"I can see that," said Evelyn, having noticed that Max had his head hanging low.

"Well, I was hoping I'd get the chance to see you again and I'm glad I did!" Max exclaimed, taking Evelyn's arm and leading her to a bench.

"Well, I spent a lot of money coming up here! I'm certainly not going to waste it on a few hours here in the city!" Evelyn exclaimed, sitting down on the bench and Max sitting down next to her. "So, I've heard that you're back on top of Broadway, Max."

"You've heard correctly!" Max exclaimed, grinning at her.

"That's good. What was the name of that show of yours that I was in…" Evelyn said, knowing what the name was and knowing that Max knew that she knew the name of the show.

"_Anything Comes_?" Max asked her anyway.

"Yeah! Is that one still running?" asked Evelyn.

"Not exactly… But it could! It could run again with new actresses or you can stay here in New York and act in it again!" Max exclaimed.

"Max, it'd be great to do what I once did, but as I was telling you earlier before you interrupted me, I left a seventeen-year-old who happens to be your son back home in Kentucky with a fourteen-year-old and a nine-year-old. Considering the fact that he's your son, I can't trust Charlie at the house alone for more than a few days," Evelyn told him.

"I have a son? And his name's Charlie?" asked Max, loving to hear about the child he never knew more than anything.

"Well, actually, his name is Maxwell Charles, but he prefers to go by 'Charlie'," said Evelyn. Max's face lit up, thrilled at the fact that his son possessed the same name as he. The name, 'Max Bialystock' had been passed down to the firstborn son in the next generation for the past few generations. It all started with Max's great, great, great grandfather, Ezekiel Bialystock, whose father was named Maxwell. He had named his son 'Maxwell', and the name carried over to his son's firstborn son, then to his son's son, then to the following son, and so on until it reached Max's uncle, who was his father's older brother, and himself.

"Well, why don't you bring him up here then? Bring them all up here, if you must!" Max exclaimed, suddenly excited at the idea that he'd finally get the chance to meet his son.

"Oh, I don't know… I don't really like the idea of two Max Bialystocks in one place," Evelyn said, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"Oh, come on, Evie! I haven't even met my own son! I think he deserves a right to meet his father!" Max exclaimed. Evelyn looked up at him with a do-you-think-I'm-stupid expression.

"Yes… Because he can learn so much from his oh-so-responsible father…" she told him.

"Hey! I can be responsible! Just gimme a chance with him, Evie! It's all I ask… If you don't want to be with me anymore, then that's fine. But at least let me meet my own son!" Max exclaimed, and Evelyn sighed.

"All right… I'll send for the boys as soon as possible, then. But until then, I ask that you leave me alone," Evelyn told him, standing. Max stood as well, his face brighter than ever before.

"I promise, Evie!" Max exclaimed.

"Good. I'll see you soon, then," said Evelyn, and she turned and started to walk away.

"Wait, Evie!" Max called, having forgotten to ask her something. Evelyn stopped and turned.

"Charlie… Does he have my last name or…" Max had asked, not wanting to call the man she married her 'husband'.

"His full name is Maxwell Charles Bialystock," said Evelyn, and she turned and continued on her way. Max smiled to himself, glad that Evelyn at least gave his son his rightful last name. With the argument with Leo long forgotten, Max nearly flew home with a certain gayness – the happy kind – to his aura.

…

Later that evening, Max was sitting at his desk going through some scripts for future plays when he heard the door open and looked up to see Leo walking in.

"Leo!" Max exclaimed, and Leo jumped, let out a small cry and quickly pulled his blanket out of his pocket. "Oh, don't be frightened! I'm not mad at you!" Max stood from his desk and approached Leo with open arms, and Leo shrunk back into a corner. "Leo – darling Leo, glorious Leo – you wouldn't believe what happened to me today!"

"Wh-what?" asked Leo, looking down at his and Max's shoes.

"I ran into Evelyn Saunders today after you left to do whatever the hell you did and she told me about my son! Yes, Leo, I do have a son with her and I finally get to meet him real soon!" Max exclaimed. "Isn't that wonderful?"

"I-it's… It's great…" said Leo, still frightened.

"Oh, Leo! There's no need to be nervous!" Max exclaimed, pulling Leo out of the corner and then leading him to the couch. "It's something to be excited about!"

"I-I think it'd be hard to handle t-two Max Bialystocks!" Leo told him once they were seated on the couch.

"You know what? Evelyn Saunders said the same thing. But who cares!" Max exclaimed.

"C-Can I go to bed now, Max?" asked Leo, who wanted to sleep more than anything.

"Of course you can. I'll leave you alone, then. You want the bed or the couch? Either is fine for me," Max told him.

"The couch is fine… I-I won't kick you out of your bed," Leo said to him.

"All right, then, if you insist," said Max, standing and going to the bedroom door. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Goodnight, Leo."

"Goodnight, Max," Leo muttered once Max had gone into the bedroom and closed the door. He then pulled a blanket over himself, closed his eyes and fell asleep rather quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

A couple of days later, Max was sitting on the couch reading the daily reviews of _Sleepy in Chicago_ while Leo was doing the accounting books.

"Best I've ever seen… Strangely hilarious… Never seen anything funnier…" Max read aloud, and he lowered the paper onto his lap quickly. "Well, nothing new there!"

"There's never anything new in the paper about it, Max. It's the same thing every day," said Leo, tired of hearing about _Sleepy in Chicago's_ daily reviews. They never changed anymore, and it bored him to tears.

"I know, I know! You think I don't know that? I'm the one that reads them!" Max exclaimed, closing the paper and tossing it up into the air. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Checking the books. Max, we aren't doing what we did with _Springtime for Hitler_, are we?" asked Leo.

"Doing the same… No! Why would we? We're too rich to have to do that again! Why?" asked Max, surprised that Leo would even ask such a question.

"Because it says here that we raised a thousand more than the show itself even cost," said Leo, looking up at him.

"Did we? Oops," said Max, shrugging with his hands up in the air. "What can ya do? I don't keep track of the prices of the plays anymore." Leo sighed and looked back down at the book.

"I guess I'll just hide it somewhere, then," he muttered, and he got back to accounting.

"Good Leo," said Max, grabbing his cup of coffee from the coffee table and sipping it. He let out a gasp and stuck his tongue out, setting the cup back on the table. "Ooh! Still hot!"

"Maybe you should let it cool, then," said Leo as a knock was heard at the door.

"Maybe you should let it cool, then," said Max in a mocking tone, standing and walking to the door. He opened it, and outside the door was a beautiful girl – not young, but younger than Max – with dark wavy hair and chocolate brown eyes. "Laura!"

"Maxie!" exclaimed the young woman who was Laura Bialystock, Max's younger sister, and she threw her arms around his neck.

"Laura, what are you doing here?" asked Max, clearly surprised at his sister's surprise visit.

"What, can't a girl visit her big famous handsome brother? You look great, Maxie! You've lost a lot of weight! And you even grew a moustache!" Laura exclaimed, stepping inside the office. It was no longer white from when Ulla had painted it. Max and Leo made sure that it returned to the way it looked before Ulla had even appeared.

"Oh, dear… She wants something," Max said, closing the door behind him as Laura sat on the couch. He then approached the couch as Laura settled herself in. "The only way I know this is because I never get complimented unless you want something, Laura."

"Nonsense! You're famous, you're handsome, so I told you the truth!" Laura told him, looking over at the desk. "And you must be Leo Bloom!" Leo looked up with slightly wide eyes.

"Er…" Leo said nervously, freezing completely.

"Wow, he's as nervous as you said he was," Laura said, turning her attention to Max.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Max said, sitting down next to his dark-haired sister. "Now, why are you really here?"

"Oh, you always see right through me! Okay, I'll tell you why: I'm tired of this boring life I lead. I want a chance to be on Broadway while I'm still young and beautiful!" Laura said, standing up and looking at the ceiling.

"Well, you're beautiful, Laura, but you're not so young anymore," Max said to her.

"Shut up," Laura said. "I just really want a chance, Max!" She sat down next to him. "You're the only one that can do it for me! Please, Max! I'm the only little sister you have and are ever going to have!"

"Unless Mom and Pop adopt another!" Max exclaimed.

"Max, stop messing around!" Laura snapped. "Please give me a chance!"

"All right, I'll think about it," Max told her.

"You will? Great!" Laura exclaimed, hugging her brother tightly.

"Okay, okay…" Max said, not really enjoying the hug. He pushed her off of him. Leo had kind of zoned out when they talked after that, thinking about Max's reaction to Laura's hug. _Max would have liked it if I did that to him, _Leo thought to himself. But then he snapped out of it when Max called Leo's name. "Leo!"

"Huh?" asked Leo, looking at Max.

"What do ya say? Does my sister have what it takes to be on Broadway?" Max asked him.

"Er… Whatever you think, Max…" said Leo, hating the spotlight being shined on him.

"I'd take that as a yes, Laura! Well, you'd better get going then! We haven't even decided what our next play will be, and we need peace and quiet for that!" Max told his sister.

"All right, all right! I get the hint," said Laura, standing. "I guess I'll see you whenever, Max. If you need to find me, I'll be at Mom and Pop's."

"Sounds good to me. Be safe, Laura," said Max as his sister left, and he closed the door behind her. He then looked at Leo, who was now staring at the books.

"I would have never guessed that you two were related…" said Leo, obviously being sarcastic.

"Yeah, the Bialystocks tend to be a bit… what's the word?" said Max, trying to think of the proper word.

"Boisterous? Loud? Spontaneous?" asked Leo.

"Exactly," said Max, taking a seat on the couch again. "We need to put an ad in the paper saying that we're looking for scripts."

"Or we could just revive an old one that you produced a while back," said Leo.

"Like…" said Max, looking at Leo.

"_Anything Comes? The Warlock of Giza? A Streetcar named Murray?"_ Leo asked him.

"Hmm… That doesn't sound like a bad idea…" said Max, leaning back on the couch with his chin in his hands. "Find the script for _Anything Comes_, Leo. I think I know what to do." Leo nodded and stood, making his way to the closet. "Should I grow a beard?" Max heard the sound of a box dropping in the closet, and then Leo appeared in the doorway with an expression that Max couldn't even guess the name of.

"NO! NO BEARD!" Leo snapped, and Max put his hands up in surrender.

"All right, no beard," he said. Leo stood there heaving for a minute before going back into the closet. "Well, that was interesting…"

"I found it! Wait… That's _Anything Can't Happen_… Nevermind!" came Leo's voice as Max picked up a newspaper and a pen.

"Hmm… Four letters, clue is 'strange sensation causing you to scratch your skin…'," he said to himself.

"Here it… No, nevermind!" said Leo again.

"Aha! Itch! Max exclaimed, and he wrote it down.

"You want me to scratch it?" asked Leo from the closet. Max looked up from the paper with wide eyes.

"Leo… I was talking about a crossword puzzle…" he said.

"Oh…" said Leo. "Here it… Nope, no it's not…" Max picked up his coffee from the table and sipped it.

"Too cold now," he said, and he set it back on the table.

"Want me to turn up the heat?" asked Leo.

"No! Just find the script!" Max exclaimed.

"Okay…" said Leo, and he went back to hunting for the script. "Aha! No…" Max groaned and stood up.

"You want me to find it?" he asked his companion.

"I can do it!" Leo said to him, and Max sighed, bored with everything around him now.

"_Everything you ever wanted is just waiting to be had…"_ he began singing quietly to himself. _"Beautiful girls wearing nothing but pearls! Chasing you, undressing you and driving you mad!"_

"Who's undressing me?" asked Leo.

"FIND THE SCRIPTS!" Max shouted at him. He heard Leo let out a cry, and then Max went to the window to look down on the street below. "Oh, look at that hot dog vendor go… And that taxi totally just sped past him. Nice driving, you moron!" Max laughed to himself as Leo poked his head out of the closet door.

"H-hey, Max?" he asked.

"What?" asked Max, irritated now and turning to Leo.

"Nevermind…" said Leo nervously, going back into the closet. Max approached the closet a lot more cautiously.

"What is it, Leo?" he asked his nervous partner in a tone that was much more gentle.

"C-Can you help m-me?" asked Leo nervously, and Max chuckled slightly.

"Of course I can help you, little buddy!" he said, and he went into the closet. It was cramped, the tiny closet. There were shelves upon shelves with boxes filled with papers of all kinds. "What boxes have you looked through so far?"

"All the ones on the shelf that I'm facing," said Leo, turning. Max turned as well, and found himself face-to-face with Leo.

"Well, isn't this awkward?" said Max, looking down directly into Leo's eyes. Leo nervously gulped and nodded.

"I-it is, isn't it?" said Leo, nodding.

"Yup," said Max, now teasing Leo and making him even more uncomfortable.

"I-I've got to go somewhere. B-be right back!" Leo exclaimed, and he pushed past Max and ran out of the closet. Max placed his hands on his hips and heard the front door slam shut.

"And that was even more awkward," said Max to himself. "Well, I guess I'm finding the script." Leo, meanwhile, was running like a madman down the street and found an empty alley to hide in. He had actually had the desire to kiss his best friend! How could he have such thoughts? Leo knew that he ought to admit to himself that he indeed did love Max Bialystock, but he certainly didn't want Max to hate him because of it! He knew that Max was in love with Evelyn Saunders, and he assumed that Evelyn was still in love with Max. But what could be done about it? Leo just brought his knees to his chest and buried his face in them, unable to stop the tears that came flowing from his eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

Eventually, Max did find the script, and he was sitting at his desk when Leo returned that night.

"Be right back, huh?" said Max, glancing up at him over his reading glasses.

"I-I'm s-sorry, Max…" said Leo, closing the door behind him.

"That's all right. I managed to find the script," Max told him, taking off his reading glasses and itching his nose.

"Y-you did? That's g-good…" said Leo, his blue blanket in his hands.

"Leo, put that thing away and come here!" Max told him. Leo did as he was told and cautiously approached Max. "So, what do you think of it so far? I think the writer is long dead now, unfortunately… We could probably talk to Rodger and Carmen about directing, and maybe Franz for any potential revisions."

"Oh, no! Don't revise it! It was an amazing piece back in its day!" Leo exclaimed, standing behind Max now.

"Was it? I never really saw it. Well, I did, but I didn't pay attention. My eyes were on the star," said Max, looking up at Leo.

"No, you should never revise this one! It's great the way it is!" Leo exclaimed, taking the script from Max's hands and looking at it.

"All right, if you insist," said Max, still looking up at Leo. "Say, have you ever gone looking for another girlfriend?"

"What? Er… No, Max.. I don't want another girlfriend," said Leo, not taking his eyes from the script.

"I understand," said Max. "Who would want a repeat of what happened between you and Ulla?" Leo sighed. No, Max did not understand. He thought he did, because Leo wouldn't tell him why he really didn't want a girlfriend.

"Exactly," Leo lied, not looking at his best friend. "Max, I can tell you anything… Right?"

"Of course you can, Leo! That's what friends are for!" Max told him cheerfully.

"Well…" Leo began. Max was listening intently. What upset Leo was the fact that he knew he couldn't tell Max his true feelings about him, so he decided not to say that. Instead, he told Max something that Leo was sure he already knew. "Keep the moustache… it adds to your appearance." Max gave him a confused expression and knew very well that that was not what Leo was going to say.

"All right…" he said. "Should I still call Franz and Rodger and Carmen tomorrow and have them come over or what?"

"I guess you could…" said Leo, closing the script and handing it back to Max. "I'm kind of tired now… I think I'm going to go to bed."

"All right. Good night, Leo. Take my bed for the night. I'm going to finish up here," Max told him, placing his reading glasses back on his nose and opening the script.

"All right. Good night, Max," said Leo, and he went into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. As he lay down in Max's bed, he smiled to himself. The bed smelled of Max, and it was a comforting scent to Leo. He felt as if Max were hugging him, and when he closed his eyes and pulled the blanket around him tighter, he envisioned that Max was holding him, and he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

…

The following morning, Max was up early. Leo hadn't woken up yet, so Max was reading over the script once more when suddenly, there was a knock at the door. He looked up with a curious expression and stood.

"Who would be knocking on my door at this hour?" he muttered to himself, and he went to answer the door. Standing outside of it was Evelyn Saunders, and behind her was a young man who looked very similar to Max. "Evie?"

"Good morning, Max. Sorry about the early intrusion. May we come in?" Evelyn replied as Max yawned into his hand. Max nodded and stepped aside as he finished yawning, and closed the door after the young man stepped inside. "Max, there's someone I'd like you to meet." Evelyn took the young man's arm and pulled him to her side. "Max, this is Charlie. Charlie, this is your father, Max Bialystock."

"The Broadway producer?" asked the young man who was Max and Evelyn's son, Maxwell Charles Bialystock. Max nodded, not saying a word. "Aren't you a failure?" Max was taken aback, but he wasn't surprised. Evelyn was right when she said that Charlie was much like himself.

"A failure! HA! I was a failure… Not anymore. It's a pleasure to finally meet the boy that I can call my son," said Max, sticking out his hand. Charlie just kind of looked at it, then leaned into his mother's ear.

"Can I go home now?" he whispered, and Evelyn looked at him.

"Charlie! That isn't a nice thing to say…" she told him. "Charlie, excuse us a moment. Just… go into the hallway…"

"Gladly," said Charlie, and he left, slamming the door in the process.

"He doesn't like me, does he?" Max asked Evelyn.

"Well… I can't say that he does, and I can't say that he doesn't. You haven't exactly been there for him, Max," Evelyn told him.

"I know, I know… But it wasn't my fault, it my defence," said Max, turning and walking to the window. "I wish he'd at least let me be there for him now."

"Maybe he will… He might have a mouth on him, but give him a chance," Evelyn told him, now standing behind him. Max turned to face her, taking her hands in his very much like he did during the afternoon on the day she left him.

"Would you be willing to give me a second chance?" he asked her. Evelyn looked down at her hands and said nothing for a few moments.

"Well, I… I guess the way that I… reacted was a bit… unnecessary…" Evelyn murmured, and Max caught her chin beneath his finger and forced her to look at him.

"A bit?" he asked. "Perhaps it was a bit… But I don't blame you one bit." Evelyn's eyes were on his now, and her breathing had turned to nervous breaths. "You had every right in the world to be upset with me that night. I'll probably regret saying this later, though, so keep that in mind." Evelyn nodded, looking anywhere but Max's eyes. "Evelyn?" Her eyes made it back to Max's and before she knew it, Max was leaning into her and, very gently, he pressed his lips against hers. There was still a fire that exploded within Max when he kissed Evelyn, but for some reason, it just wasn't as strong as it used to be back in 1944. Was it maybe the amount of time that had taken place in between their last meeting and their current one? Max just couldn't explain it. Quietly, the door to the bedroom opened, and Leo's disgruntled head appeared in the crack of the door.

"Max? Was that loud noise you?" he asked, and he let out a cry when he saw Evelyn and Max kissing by the couch. Max and Evelyn jumped apart and looked at Leo, who was naked from the waist up. When he saw Evelyn blush and look down, Leo looked down at his chest and let out another cry, and then he pulled himself back into the room and slammed the door. Max, of course, couldn't stop staring at the door, and then he tore his gaze from the door and looked at Evelyn.

"Excuse me…" he said, and he went to the door and opened it. "Leo!" He closed the door behind him and looked at Leo, who jumped and covered his bare chest with a blanket as Max approached him. "Oh, stop that nonsense! You don't have tits!" He ripped the blanket from Leo's hands, and Leo raised his hands to his chest as if to protect it. "Why did you walk in on us like that?"

"I-in m-m-my def-fence M-Max… I-I d-d-didn't know y-y-you two w-were… were m-m-making out…" Leo stuttered, looking anywhere but at Max. He was taller than Max by a good four inches, so it was pretty easy to miss him.

"I thought you were sleeping!" Max exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

"I was, b-b-but I h-heard a c-crashing sound…" Leo stuttered. Max sighed.

"I shouldn't be getting mad at you. It's giving me a headache. Just get dressed," Max told him, and he went to the door. "Oh, and Leo?"

"Y-Yes, M-Max?" Leo asked him.

"I'm sorry for frightening you," Max said, and then he exited the room. Leo was stiff, but as soon as Max closed the door, he collapsed onto the bed and searched for his blue blanket among the other blankets.

…

"Right… So your mother left you with me…" Max said a few hours later after having discovered that Evelyn had things to do and she left Charlie with Max. Charlie nodded, his hands shoved in his pockets. "Why would she do that to me?"

"I'd like to ask the same question," Charlie said to him. "Some father you are!"

"You watch your mouth, boy!" Max exclaimed, sitting up from the chair at his desk.

"Why don't you watch yours? I refuse to be spoken like that by some old man I've never even met until now!" Charlie shouted back.

"Old man? For the record, I am a little over thirty years older than you! I'm not even close to being in my sixties, and I'm rather fit and good-looking for my age!" Max spat back. "I won't take any of the shit that comes out of your mouth, young man! I can't even call you a young man… You aren't old enough!"

"Like I care!" Charlie spat back. He and Max were now face-to-face. It was certainly hard for a fight to be won when it was Bialystock versus Bialystock!

"You'd better apologize to me, Maxwell Charles Bialystock!" Max snapped at him, jabbing his finger in Charles's chest.

"As soon as I'm old enough, I'm changing my last name to my mother's. I'm already cursed to be the biological son of the likes of you!" Charlie snapped at him. "I am _not_ a Bialystock! I might be legally, but in my heart, I'm not!"

"It doesn't matter what you change your name to. You'll always be Maxwell Charles Bialystock no matter what," Max spat in his face. "When I was at the rebellious age of seventeen, I, too, wanted to change my name from Maxwell William Bialystock to my mother's maiden name, but I didn't! Do you know why I didn't? Because I have respect for the family that I come from! Just like you should!"

"Respect the family that I come from? You're telling me that I should respect the man who didn't even have the decency to show up at least once in my life? And you dare call yourself my father…" Charlie said to him. Obviously, the boy didn't know all of the facts yet.

"You don't know anything, do you, you naïve little shit?" Max asked him. He placed an arm around the boy's shoulder and led him to the window. "Listen to what I have to say for once: Your mother left me in 1944 a week before we were due to be married. On the day of what was supposed to be our wedding, a letter from your mother arrived, calling off the engagement. I tried to write back to her, but the letters were sent back. She never contacted me again after that… She wanted nothing more to do with me, and she sure as hell didn't tell me about you! Otherwise, I would have been there!"

"Wh-why would she do that?" Charlie asked Max, looking up at him. Max shrugged.

"I don't know… Did she ever tell you about me?" he asked his son, looking down at him.

"A few times… She explained to me why my last name was Bialystock and not my step-father's," said Charlie.

"So she told you about me… She didn't tell me about you until my business partner snooped through my drawers and somehow found her. How he did that escapes me. I tried to find her for the first five years after she left me, but no name came up. I had assumed that she had married and changed her last name, which made it much harder for me to find her," Max said to him. "How old were you when she married?"

"About three," replied Charlie.

"And what was the man's name?" asked Max.

"John Tracey," said Charlie. Max looked at him with an are-you-kidding-me look.

"Of course it was… That was one of the first names that I found about three years after she left me…" Max said in an irritated tone. Charlie laughed and pulled out of Max's grip.

"Serves you right for hurting her the way you did," Charlie said to him. At that statement, Max had had enough, and with all of his might, he slapped the boy right across the face.

"Don't you DARE say that again, do you hear me? I know the mistakes I made and I DON'T have to be reminded of them! You don't think that for the past eighteen years, I regretted all that I did that night? You don't think that the guilt ate away at me every minute of every day? You don't know anything, you little shit, and you never will!" Max yelled at him. Charlie knew that he had gone too far, but now he had an excuse to leave.

"Fine… I'll just leave then… Things were much better for all of us before that stupid partner of yours contacted my mother!" Charlie shouted, and then he ran out of the office before Max could do anything about it. Just as Max made for the door, Leo had come out of the bathroom after a long shower wearing nothing but a towel and watched someone – a young man that looked a bit like Max – run by on the sidewalk through the window.

"Wh-whose that?" asked Leo, looking out the window. Max raced to the window and watched Charlie disappear, and he sighed.

"That, Leo, was my son… And he's right, I am a horrible father," he told Leo, sitting down on the couch.

"Oh, no! No, Max! He didn't say that!" Leo said, sitting down next to him. "N-not that I was… eavesdropping or anything…"

"He didn't have to say it," said Max, staring at the coffee table. "Go and put some clothes on or something… You'll catch a cold." Leo nodded and stood.

"I'm here if you need me, Max…" he told him. Max said nothing, and Leo went into the bedroom to change.


	7. Chapter 7

"Who does the little shit think he is, just waltzing out of my office and onto the streets of New York? He'll get lost! He'll get hurt! He's never been here before!" Max exclaimed loudly to Leo as they walked rather quickly down the sidewalk in the direction that Charlie had run.

"Well, how do you know he hasn't been here before, Max? Maybe he has!" Leo told him.

"Nonsense! If Evelyn were trying to keep him a secret from me, she'd never bring him here! And either way, he hasn't been here long enough to know it!" Max shouted back at him. "Oy, when I get my hands on that boy…"

"You'll do what? You can't hit him! Even if you are his father!" Leo told him, grabbing Max's arm and stopping him.

"Then how is he supposed to know to never do it again?" Max asked him. "If he gets himself killed, Evelyn will kill me!" He pulled his arm from Leo's grip and started off again. "That little idiot… New York is too big for someone like him! He'd have to have lived here his whole life in order to navigate through this big city!"

"Just relax, Max… Maybe he's in the park!" Leo suggested, and Max looked at him.

"The closest landmarks to my office are the park and that little square of theatres… You go and check the park and I'll check the square," Max told him, and he ran off as Leo nodded.

"Right… To the park! Wherever that may be from here…" he muttered to himself, and ran in the other direction. Max, meanwhile, was in a furious run towards the square, pushing past many unsuspecting citizens that were unknowingly in his path. When he made it to the square, he ran into the first theatre that he found, which was the theatre that the rehearsals for that night's performance of _'Springtime for Hitler' _were taking place. Max looked around at the seats, and suddenly, he spotted someone who looked rather young sitting in one of the rows close to the stage. Max approached the person carefully, and as he got closer, he realized that it was Charlie sitting in that seat. Silently, Max took the seat in the row behind him, watching as his son was fascinated with the rehearsal.

"A nice play, isn't it?" Max whispered into his son's ear, who jumped and turned to look at Max.

"It's a funny one… The man who produced it must have been a genius…" Charlie said back, turning and watching the people on stage. "I've always been interested in being a Broadway director… There's so much that I could do."

"The man who produced it is sitting right behind you," Max told him. "And give it a shot! It's always the young ones who make a break in this town."

"You produced this?" Charlie asked his father, turning to him. "And is that what you did when you were my age?"

"I was nearly in my thirties when I first started producing Broadway shows, but your mother was a beautiful aspiring actress who was young, gorgeous and talented," Max replied.

"Is that so? Maybe I'll meet someone like that…" Charlie said, leaning back in the chair and sighing dreamily.

"Well, give it a shot. If you'd like, you can be the assistant director to my next Broadway show," Max suggested, and Charlie's face lit up and he turned around.

"Can I? Oh, can I really?" he exclaimed excitedly, and Max laughed.

"Of course you can, Charlie! But you can't do it without reading the play! Come with me and we'll read over it together," he said, and he stood. Charlie did the same, and the two of them left the theatre together.

"What play is it that you're doing? Is it new?" Charlie asked his father.

"No, not really. It's over twenty years old. We're doing _Anything Comes_, which is the play that your mother first auditioned for and how we first met all those years ago," said Max.

"_Anything Comes_? That's a great show… I loved that movie that they made back in… What was it? 1957?"

"I guess so. I wanted nothing to do with it."

"Well, either way, it was fantastic! I can't wait to help direct it!"

"Kid, you'll be going places…" Together, the two Bialystocks waltzed down the street arm-in-arm happily conversing about the play that they were about to revive.

…

It was later at night when Leo again returned to the office, and Max looked up at him with surprise when Leo stepped into the office soaking wet and dripping water all over the floor. Max stood, his reading glasses falling to the end of his nose.

"Leo… What the hell happened to you?" Max asked him, his face showing an expression of extreme shock.

"Don't you dare ask, Max Bialystock!" Leo snapped at him. Max raised his hands in surrender.

"All right, then. I won't ask. But do us both a favor, Leo, and wrap yourself in a towel or something! You're ruining my hardwood floors!" he told Leo, seeing how Leo was dripping water all over the floor. Leo angrily stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door. "Hmm… What's biting him in the ass?" A moment later, Max heard the sound of Leo screaming and then a crash in the bathroom. "Leo? Leo! Are you all right?" Max raced to the door started rattling the doorknob, but it was locked, so he started banging on it instead. "Leo! Leo, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine!" Leo shouted from inside the bathroom. "Just go away! I can handle myself!"

"Oh… Okay then," said Max, stepping away from the door. "Well, Leo, would you like to explain what happened?"

"I asked you not to ask!" Leo snapped. "Did you at least find your son?"

"Yes, Leo, I did," Max told him, suspecting that his former backers had something to do with Leo's irritability. He was right when, just as he was getting ready for bed, he heard moaning coming from the bedroom. He cracked open the door and peered inside, and Leo was tossing and turning on the bed, moaning things that Max couldn't make out until he got closer.

"No… Lick Me-Kick Me, don't touch that! No, Hold Me-Touch Me, I don't want to hold you! No, Suck Me-Enter Me, don't bite that! That is not something to be bitten! AAAAAHHHH!" Leo had been screaming. Max couldn't help but laugh, so he had to leave or he would have woken Leo up and infuriated him.

…

"Evelyn, will you be auditioning?" Max asked Evelyn Saunders only a couple of days later. They were now holding auditions for _Anything Comes_, And Max wanted Evelyn, more than anything, to audition for the role of Betty Hilbracker, which was the role that Evelyn had once auditioned for many years ago when _Anything Comes_ was new to Broadway.

"I don't think I have it in me, Max. Betty Hilbracker is a young and beautiful girl who can dance and sing and do things that I don't think I'm capable of doing anymore," Evelyn replied.

"Well, that's what makeup is for! You might not be young now, but if I remember correctly, you still can sing and dance! Need I remind you of that day that we first met again?" asked Max, his hands on his hips.

"Oh, don't throw that at me. That was casual singing and dancing. This is Broadway, which isn't casual singing and dancing. I have to throw myself around in ways that just may break my bones," Evelyn told him.

"Evelyn, you're not even fifty! You're still young!"

"You said it yourself, Max; I'm not so young anymore."

"But I also said that you were beautiful. And like I also said, that's what makeup is for! No one has to know that you're a lot older than you'll appear! You know that show, _Hello, Birdie_, right? The one with Emile Shautner and Becky Morris? Well, Becky Morris is fifty years old, and no one knows that but the cast and crew!"

"Please, Max, I knew that Becky Morris was fifty."

"Because you knew her personally."

"People know that she's older than she appears, Max. There are generations of people who have seen her on Broadway for decades!"

"But that isn't my point. My point is, no one would be able to tell that you're nearly fifty. Come on, Evelyn, just give it a try!"

"I'll give it a try, Max, but just because you're still in love with me, don't give me the role. Only if I really deserve it will I let you give me the role," Evelyn told him, and then she quickly went backstage to prepare for her audition. Max sat down at the table and waited for Leo to show up, and when he did, they called out the first name.

"Er… Elizabeth Chambers?" Leo called, standing. A pretty young girl who didn't look much older than twenty entered the stage.

"Hello! I'm Elizabeth!" exclaimed the young woman.

"Yes, we are aware. What song would you like to sing?" Max asked, wanting to get to Evelyn's audition.

"I would like to sing 'Swanee River'," said young Elizabeth.

"Sing away," said Max, and the piano player began to play. As soon as Elizabeth had started to sing, Max interrupted her. "NEXT!" Elizabeth stopped singing and looked shocked.

"You don't know real talent, Mr. Bialystock!" she exclaimed, and she stormed off stage.

"That's right… That's why I'm still here as a producer and you're not," Max said as he left, and Leo looked down at the paper again.

"Maisie Swift?" he called, and then a redhead stood on stage before them.

"Hello, Miss Swift. What would you like to sing for us?" asked Max, his hands folded neatly.

"I'd like to sing 'In the Mood', please," said Maisie, and then the piano player began.

"NEXT!" Max shouted just before Maisie began.

"Oh… All right, then," said Maisie, and then she walked off the stage.

"Max…" Leo said to his partner, and then he looked back at the list. "Evelyn Saunders?" It was more like a shocked exclamation than a call, but Evelyn arrived on stage and looked at Max and Leo. Max was suddenly interested, and Leo looked at Max with suspicion.

"What would you like to sing, Evelyn?" asked Max.

"Well… I guess I could do 'Angel Baby'," said Evelyn, referring to a sort of newer song by a British band, Rosie and the Originals. The piano player began, and before Evelyn even opened her mouth, she was interrupted by Max.

"PERFECT! She's in the show!" he shouted, standing and clapping. Evelyn sort of glared at him before walking off of the stage, and Leo looked up at Max with shock. So his partner was now being influenced by love… Leo remembered what it was like to be corrupted by love… He had betrayed his own best friend because of it, and now, Max was betraying his job for love. "What?" Leo was then snapped out of his thoughts.

"Nothing…" said Leo, looking away from him. He then pulled out a pocket watch to check the time and stood. "I've got to go and see my father at the hospital before they don't allow visitors. I'll see you later, Max."

"All right, I'll see you tonight, then," said Max suspiciously, watching Leo leave. He was acting fairly strange… Did he not like the way Max was running things? Well, that was too damn bad! If Leo was really dedicated to being a Broadway producer, then he ought to learn how to do it from a professional. Max was surprised at Leo's disrespect! How could he be so rude? To bite the hand that fed him? Max sighed, and decided that he ought to write out the cast list at that moment now that auditions were over.


End file.
